Challenge: What would it take to build something nearly this powerful?

[Wiz]

New Cray "desktop" computers.

http://www.cray.com/Products/CX/Systems.aspx

So you can get 24 cores and some CUDA gpu's in there, but what about building something nearly this powerful on a DC cruncher budget?

I see you can get some quad AMD quad core mobo's out there, providing 16 cores.

Oh - the target to beat is about $50K (if you are buying from Dell).

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Wow... That site is just fun. I've spec'd a lot of server to compare to Dell servers, but nothing like this. I will be spending some time on here to get specs from their builds and see what I can come up with. Do you have a build in mind? If you can post the specs of a specific build / configuration, it would help for what you are looking for.

 

[Wiz]

I was just goofing around, but for about $10K at Newegg.com I can get a mobo with 24 Opteron cores and 64GB memory and dual "VCQFX5800-PCIE-PB Quadro FX 5800 4GB 512-bit" video cards for a total of 480 streaming processors.

Have to add storage and power and case...

 

[petrusbroder]

Would be fun though ... hmm, when I have time, I'll look into this too ... :0

 

[Wiz]

For $40K I could have 96 cores, 256 GB memory, 1920 streaming processors.
Add some storage and power supplies and a gig switch and cluster that thing.
Yeah, I could come up with a $50K box.

 

[PCTC2]

Yeah. Going along with Wiz, you can get 5 2U DP Xeon 5520 servers with 24GB of RAM each, and 5 NVIDIA S1070 Telsa 1U (960 SP) units for around $50K.

 

[Wiz]

Now, what would something like that produce in F@H or Seti?

Plenty I'll bet

 

[Tsavo]

This would make a decent HTPC.

 

[Wiz]

This would make a decent HTPC.

uhhhhhhhh......

too loud and hot...

 

[Tsavo]

uhhhhhhhh......

too loud and hot...

It has inertial sound dampening technology.

It would be perfect as an HTPC.

 

[petrusbroder]

OK, that may take care of the noise ... what about the heat? DVDs do not tolerate heat well ...

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

OK, that may take care of the noise ... what about the heat? DVDs do not tolerate heat well ...

Put it in the kitchen. Use it to cook off of, and just stream the media. No need for discs!

 

[Golgatha]

Yeah. Going along with Wiz, you can get 5 2U DP Xeon 5520 servers with 24GB of RAM each, and 5 NVIDIA S1070 Telsa 1U (960 SP) units for around $50K.

When I win the lottery, it will be mine!

 

[petrusbroder]

Put it in the kitchen. Use it to cook off of, and just stream the media. No need for discs!

Yeah, LoL!

 

[Tsavo]

OK, that may take care of the noise ... what about the heat? DVDs do not tolerate heat well ...

Liquid cooled DVD's.

 

[Wiz]

Sound dampening will not eliminate sound - it will make it quieter than it would be without it. I'll bet it would be too loud for most home theater use unless it was located in a remote area away from the HT. HT buffs complain about the noise created by the home theater equipment itself, without adding a PC into the situation. Once you put a PC in there it's usually much louder than the HT gear and then they complain about that. People get real picky when it comes to their home theater.